The latest survey shows that the European Parliament will be composed of pro-European Conservative, Socialist and Liberal parties, which would be able to form an absolute majority, but Eurosceptic parties would get in as well. With the United Kingdom leaving the EU, the number of Eurosceptics is estimated to go up from the current 10 percent to 14.3 percent, according to the compilation of national polls commissioned by the EU executive.
In the current Parliament, the majority is being held by a coalition of center-right and center-left groupings. The new survey, which includes national polls published until 15 April, shows that with the number of seats capped at 751, the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) will remain the largest grouping with 180 seats representing 24 percent of the total, down by 5 percent. The center-left Socialists and Democrats are the second biggest grouping with 149 seats, almost 20 percent. Liberals are the third with 76 seats and 10 percent. If Britain participated in the 25-26 May vote, the nationalist Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) would go up to 8.3 percent, from the current 5 percent.
The European Parliament is the only institution of the European Union that is directly elected by EU nationals. Together with the Council of the European Union, it exercises the legislative function of the EU. With 751 members, the Parliament represents the second-largest electorate in the world, only after the Parliament of India, and is the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world. The European Parliament has been elected every five years since 1979.
